Sun-Dried Tomato & Basil Arancini (Vegan)

Arancini is an Italian dish consisting of rice balls stuffed with cheese, coated in bread crumbs, and deep fried. The result is a crispy, savory ball of goodness with a cheesy center, perfect for dipping into marinara sauce.

Pretty awesome, right? I thought so, too. Which is precisely why I wanted to experience them for myself.

To the experimental vegan kitchen we go!

This recipe starts with cauliflower. Did you know this cruciferous veg can be made into rice? So cool.

I wanted to use cauliflower rice as the base to keep this dish lighter and healthier. Spoiler alert: It totally worked.

Think Italian vegan “meatball,” but only more tender and somehow more delicious.

These make the perfect side dish or appetizer for Italian night or when you want a hearty snack. I would bet money that kids would gobble these down without guessing they were eating mostly cauliflower. Sneaky vegetable placement for the win.

If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to take a picture and tag it #minimalistbaker on Instagram. We’d love to see what you come up with. Cheers, friends!

Sun-Dried Tomato & Basil Arancini (Vegan)

10-ingredient vegan arancini with cauliflower rice, sun-dried tomatoes, and basil. Inspired by an Italian dish that's typically cooked rice stuffed with cheese and fried, only my version is healthier and veganized!

COATING

FOR SERVING optional

1cupfavorite marinara sauce

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 C) and line a baking sheet with foil.

In a large skillet over medium heat, sauté cauliflower rice and garlic in half the olive oil (1 Tbsp as original recipe is written // adjust if altering batch size) for 5 minutes, with a lid on, stirring frequently. Set aside.

Add cauliflower rice to food processor or blender, along with salt and pepper and remaining olive oil (1 Tbsp as original recipe is written // adjust if altering batch size). Pulse/mix a few more times and then transfer to a mixing bowl to avoid getting the mixture too paste-like.

Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Add more bread crumbs and/or vegan parmesan cheese if the mixture feels too wet. It should be moldable when squeezed together.

Transfer mixture to refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes, or freezer for 15 minutes. At this time, mix together panko bread crumbs and vegan parmesan cheese in a shallow bowl. Set aside.

Once chilled, use a Tablespoon or cookie scoop (I like this one from Amazon) to scoop out rounded Tablespoon amounts of the arancini mixture.

Carefully form into balls by resting the arancini in your palm and using your other hand's fingers to gently roll until a ball is formed. They are fragile, so work carefully. There should be 13-14 total (amount as original recipe is written // adjust if altering batch size).

Coat arancini one at a time in the panko-vegan parmesan mixture, then set aside on a baking sheet.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add 1-2 Tbsp oil and brown 6-7 arancini at a time for 4-5 minutes total, rolling with a spoon or fork to brown on all sides. Turn down heat if browning too quickly.

Once all are browned, place back on a baking sheet and bake in a 375-degree F (190 C) oven for 15-20 minutes. In the meantime, prepare/heat sauce (optional) and any other desired toppings or sides.

Let arancini cool for 5 minutes, then serve with marinara and additional vegan parmesan cheese. These are best eaten with a fork as they are tender.

Leftovers keep for 2-3 days in the refrigerator, though best when fresh. Reheat in the microwave or in a 375-degree F (190 C) oven until warmed through.

Talk About It

Despite living in an area highly populated by Italians and due to my very dark skin, am considered to be “one of the family” by all our Italian neighbors….I have yet to hear of arancini and will be asking them about that later. That cauliflower rice looks fantastic, I’ve made it before, but like your new spin on it. And big surprise is like you said…..overall. This recipe looks really healthy.

Ironically I had this for the first time at a company event this past Monday. Loved it so I can’t wait to make this healthier version for myself. (And I love sun-dried tomatoes in anything!) Great recipe & Beautiful photos!!!

OBSESSED doesn’t even begin to describe my feelings for this. LOVE that cauliflower rice works here, and fingers crossed that gluten-free panko works just as well as regular. Thanks for the great recipe, Dana!

This is genius. I find cauliflower rice naturally buttery in flavor, which I’m sure makes these all the more savory and delicious. I have been eagerly awaiting this recipe since you mentioned it. You never let me down!

Delicious!!! And a great way of introducing cauliflowers to the daily menu (I’m having a hard time trying to convince my two boys _aka my son and my husband_ that they are nice. I’ll definitely try this recipe!

This looks so good I can’t wait to try it! With my food allergies there are so few recipes out there that I can use without making extensive changes to them. I don’t have to change anything on this so thank you. I am a new food blogger and just wanted to say I enjoy and have learned a lot from you blog. Have a blessed day.

I made this and it is great! The only changes I made were to omit the oregano (because I didn’t have it) and use drained, oil packed sun dried tomatoes because that’s what I had. I also only cooked them in the oven rather then stove top and oven, and they browned up perfectly! Great recipe, I’ll definitely make this again.

I feel like cauliflower rice is very ‘in’ at the moment! I keep seeing it everwhere, and the more I see it the more I want to try it! It’s such a good substitute food. Like using it as a pizza base etc, it’s so versatile. This is a good way to make a somewhat heavy dish nice and light! Thumbs up

We loved these, although my Italian guy (with a horrible lactose allergy, ahem) griped a bit about missing the melty cheese center he’s used to in arancini, so I may try to add some sort of creamy cashew cheese next go-round. For anyone who doesn’t want to eat the whole batch in one meal, I cooked up half and left the “dough” in the fridge overnight, then made the second batch the next day. The mixture saved well and that way the arancini are nice and crispy even as leftovers.

Just made this! Took a little while, but SO worth it! I love cauliflower rice and the flavors in this dish are awesome!!! Thanks for always providing delicious easy, pantry-ready ingredient recipes! You guys are such an inspiration!

Dana, I made this upon a recommendation from a co-worker. It was easy and fun to make. My 18 year old came through the kitchen dipping one in the marinara then popped it in his mouth. “What is this? It’s good!” Asked the boy who barely allows veggies to pass his lips!

These were a HUGE hit in our mixed household of vegetarian, carnivore, allergic and picky eaters! My only suggestion is that it did take a bit of effort to make, so next time I will double and freeze half the batch before cooking. We ate them too fast for leftovers. Yum!!!!

This recipe produced one of the best dishes I’ve ever personally made. The arancini were SO flavorful and tender, and the crispy outside matched with the melt-in-your-mouth inside was really lovely. I’ve made a handful of Minimalist Baker recipes now, and I think this one might be my favorite so far.

YUMM YUMM YUMMAH!!! I am clearly on a Mbaker kick recently. I have been making so many of your recipes and they are all soooo good! I have your cookbook, but for some reason I keep coming to your blog for recipes, I guess it’s force of habit. The book is beautiful by the way. I have my eyes on that jackfruit burger!
Tomorrow your vegan ramen!! <3 :-)

Made these for dinner last night and they were so delicious! I ran out of nutritional yeast and they didn’t have any at the store, so I subbed the vegan parm for some raw cashews, white miso paste, and dijon (they still tasted super cheesy and delicious anyways.) I think I could have probably pulsed them together a little longer since the mixture did fall apart on me a little bit when trying to roll/fry them. I also should have browned them a bit longer in the pan – but overall they were delicious, and so warm and comforting. Reheated well for lunch today too. With store bought cauli-rice these would be a BREEZE! Thanks for another excellent weeknight dinner!

I made this recipe today to have to pull out for myself next week. I used a bag of frozen cauliflower rice. The bag is 4 cups and I squeezed most of the water out after I steamed in the microwave. I eat low fat so I thought steaming it saved a few grams of fat. They were quite easy to roll. I didn’t cook them on the stove top. Only baked so they were very delicate to eat. I’m not sure if the steamed cauliflower made a difference in the texture or firmness or not but they were so delicious and pleasant to eat! I think they would be great without sauce along with an arugula salad.
I save or pin one of your recipes several times a week. Thank you so much for sharing!

These are absolutely delicious! The consistency and flavours are excellent. I have made several of your dishes and have loved every single one. Thank you for inspiring me to eat more plant based and making it super simple and enjoyable. I am trying to encourage my husband to eat more plant based foods and he has loved every recipe I have made from your cookbook/website. It’s a win!

I’m so disappointed I don’t love these. I saved the recipe weeks ago and finally got around to making it tonight. It was so time consuming to make all the ingredients, then follow the recipe. I’d hope that after all the effort I would love them but sadly, I think they’re just “okay”. I cook regularly so I know recipes can be hit or miss the time spent on this one makes it particularly disappointing :( I’ll look for a shorter recipe to try next time.